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[SPECIAL JANUARY PROMOTION: Spend $50+ In The FPM Store And Receive A Free Copy Of “Final Battle” By David Horowitz.]
On Friday, December 29th, in coordination with the Middle East Forum, this author took a delegation of five leaders from the local community to meet with the General Manager of the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Coral Springs Hotel & Convention Center, Mark Cherry. It was our goal to convince Mr. Cherry to cancel a conference and bazaar the center was to host a couple weeks later (January 12-13), organized by the South Florida Muslim Federation (SFMF), an umbrella organization for South Florida’s many radical Muslim groups. With the help of a public outcry, our mission was a success.
We had several concerns about this conference taking place, starting with SFMF itself.
Right after the October 7 massacre of over 1200 Israelis perpetrated by Hamas – literally on the same day as the attack – SFMF asked its followers on social media to donate funds to Gaza via the US chapter of Islamic Relief, a group that has been banned by a number of nations. Israel has labeled Islamic Relief a front for Hamas and previously arrested its Gaza leader. And regarding its US chapter, IRUSA, its ex-Chairman Khaled Lamada tweeted that it is “absurd” to classify Hamas “as a terrorist organization” and used his social media to promote Hamas.
Islamic Relief was to be the main sponsor (“Premier Sponsor”) of the SFMF conference.
The President of SFMF is Samir Kakli. He took over the job from Nezar Hamze, a former representative for the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which is a member organization of SFMF.
In June 2020, Kakli promoted the Palestinian “Day of Rage,” large-scale protests that resulted in violence against Jews. In October 2020, he called for the release from prison of leaders of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), who were convicted of raising millions of dollars for Hamas. In December 2022, he questioned Israel’s nationhood, posting on Facebook, “[T]heir ‘nation’ is built on lies and fantasy.”
SFMF and its leader Kakli have both promoted events run by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a group that was recently banned from operating in Florida universities for its declared alliance with Hamas. In May 2022, SFMF co-sponsored an anti-Israel rally with SJP. During the rally, Kakli and others called for Israel’s destruction with shouts of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Death to Israel.”
We also had concerns about many of the speakers for the SFMF conference.
One conference speaker, Naima Khan-Ghany, was recently removed from the two committees she served on in the Broward County School Board, as a result of her making numerous anti-Semitic posts on social media. One post referred to Jews as being “Satanic.”
Another speaker, social media influencer Yasemin Kanar, a.k.a. The Real Yaz, three days after October 7, stated, “[A]ll of Hollywood is run by Zionist Jews and promoting pedophilia.” Kanar, as well, praised Hamas. She further posted, on her Twitter account, a video claiming the documented rapes committed by Hamas are fake. And she posted a video of rabid anti-Semite Lucas Gage saying, “You guys don’t know what Jewish supremacists will do to push a narrative. They will lie. They are called the ‘Masters of Lies’ for a reason… [E]veryone’s starting to see it, maybe our ancestors are right, maybe antisemitism isn’t this irrational hatred.”
Yet another speaker, founder and Imam of the Darul Uloom Institute (DUI) Shafayat Mohamed, was thrown off several Broward County boards for his vile rhetoric against the LGBTQ community, including claiming that natural disasters are caused by gay sex.
Our meeting with Marriott GM Mark Cherry lasted just over an hour. For the meeting, my non-profit, the Joe Kaufman Security Initiative, had created a 30-page PowerPoint presentation to show to Mr. Cherry. It contained all of the evidence against SFMF and its event speakers – their extensive and documented support for Hamas and an extreme hostility of Jews that went way beyond hatred of Israel.
The PowerPoint began with a page containing graphic images from the October 7 atrocities – a rape victim and bloodied and burned bodies. We felt it necessary to display these images, in order to convey the barbaric cruelty which was being justified by the SFMF speakers.
Well into the meeting, Mr. Cherry informed us of the fact that SFMF had already used his facility a number of times in the past and that the contract for the upcoming conference had been signed a year in advance. He also indicated that he shared our concerns regarding the material we were presenting to him.
This author also provided information showing that other hotels, including Marriotts, had recently cancelled similar conferences, due to issues related to safety and security. Given the anti-Semitic atmosphere following October 7 and given the terrorist element shadowing the SFMF event, I suggested he consider doing the same.
Following our Marriott meeting, an article that I had written regarding the situation was published in the Middle East Forum’s Focus on Western Islamism, titled ‘Coral Springs Marriott Set to Host Florida Gathering of Hamas Sympathizers.’ The piece sparked a public outcry from the community. Phone calls were made, including by city officials, emails were sent, and petitions were signed in the thousands.
The result of all of this was the Coral Springs Marriott’s cancellation of the SFMF conference.
The threats posed by the individuals and groups involved in this conference must be considered detrimental to both the local community and national security interests, especially in light of the current elevated threat levels, both in the US and abroad. As FBI Director Christopher Wray stated to the House Committee on Homeland Security, this past November, “[W]e cannot – and do not – discount the possibility that Hamas or another foreign terrorist organization may exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here, on our own soil.”
Mr. Cherry and, by extension, the Marriott Hotel administration, are to be commended for taking the courageous step of refusing to let their facilities be used by pro-Hamas individuals and groups to promote jihad and the hatred of Jews. By canceling the SFMF event, they have helped protect the community and shown themselves to be on the ‘right side of history.’
Mark Cherry and the Marriott Corporation deserve everyone’s thanks.
Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, contributed to this report.
Florida says No to Hamas here in California Newsom the Nit-Wit kisses their rings
Golly, someone finally has a functioning brain?
Don’t kid yourself these people no exactly what they are doing & so do their communist Allie’s
It’s a short term victory. The long term in Florida is worse, they’re showing up everywhere in central Florida now.
This will not end well.
All muslims should be sent to china
Look for the ACLU to sue since their commercials are promoting “We the People.”
Just wondering…. has the ACLU ever ever ever sued the universities that ban or shut down speeches by David Horowitz? Did they come to the defense of Tomi Lahren whose speech at UNM Sept. 2022 was shut down due to a mob that pounding on walls putting holes them, pulled a fire alarm, attacked UNM Police? Ann Coulter? Any conservative? NO! The ACLU and NLG reps are in the mobs to protect their Right to Destroy and if police DARE to stop them, “NO TOUCHING! NO TOUCHING!”, and do touch them, the policeman, department, and city are sued.
Im kinda feeling like you just ”doxxed” Mark Cherry
Thank you Joe Kaufman for taking the time to meet with Marriott officials and explaining to them why they should cancel the planned event.
Congratulations, Joe. Last month, I reported anti-Israel posts on social media by ASAAL, a labor organization dominated by south Asian Muslims, to the Governor of New York and one other elected official, and to a labor union. Several of the posts blamed 9-11 on Israel; they were, I believe, retweets from Lucas Gage, whom you mention in your article. As a result, both the governor and the elected official, I was told, cancelled their joint scheduled appearance at an ASAAL conference. ASAAL itself, having gotten wind of the fact that their posts were seen and objected to, not just by me but by other outsiders who expressed outrage, deleted the offending posts with a clumsy, disingenuous apology. Nevertheless, I took screen shots of the posts before they were deleted, sent them to relevant individuals, and saved them. I’m glad I did what I did, and am even happier to know that unbeknownst to me, others did the same. We must all do what we can to fight the jihad that Muslim are waging against us here in the USA. Their propaganda must not be allowed to go unchallenged.
Thank you for doing this.
front p bloc. king comments.
That’s a good start! At some point there will be a “reckoning”! The USA and many other Nations will have to decide if the muslims are to remain within their Nations. When a group of 7th century religious zealots begin to assert their “superiority” and DEMAND to be self-ruled and by that I mean that YOU will have to be ruled by them then it will be put up or shut up! We are fortunate here since our Founding Fathers were BRILLIANT, DECENT men and established Our Nation putting OUR LIBERTIES at the forefront! There are MANY, MANY MILLIONS of good, decent men and women in the USA who will not go quietly. England could be conquered by the usual crowd if they did that rather than buggering young girls and boys! France seems to be waking up. Spain might be! The “leaders” in office now in the USA seem to be welcoming our destruction – WHY??
The short answer is BHO.
“The “leaders” in office now in the USA seem to be welcoming our destruction – WHY??”
Read 1st Chapter of Rufo’s book,America’s Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything
by Christopher F. Rufo, Charles Constant, et al.
this will answer your question
Are pro-Hamas types lowlife degenerates? Absolutely.. Engaging in the exact same speech-suppressing tactics used by the left, as in getting an event cancelled for “security reasons?” More than a little hypocritical.
Freedom of speech is when you talk about the kind of world you would like to live in, and such speech should remain free, even if your dream is someone else’s dystopia. Organising for change, including fundraising, goes beyond speech, and, if what is envisaged is illegal or abusive, then it is reasonable to take steps to stop it from happening. There is a similar difference between merely doing a presentation to young people that identifies the local abortion clinic as a public benefactor, and providing expertise on how to use a coat hanger or knitting needle to procure your own abortion. As much as I don’t agree that abortion is a public good, saying that it is comes under freedom of speech. Teaching people to take matters into their own hands, however, would be unethical and sufficiently dangerous to warrant shutting down the event.
But isn’t it a security threat? Perhaps you are unaware of the location of Coral Springs, FL but there is a large Jewish community in its vicinity. Not to mention the annual Jewish Film Festival in Miami coincides with those dates and whose to say some deranged individuals get riled up at the terrorist meeting and decide to cause havoc 45 minutes south?
Are you familiar with the planned Nazi march in Skokie, home of many Holocaust survivors?
The country needs more victories like the one described above. Thank goodness Marriott listened and did the right thing. I look forward to the day when such events get cancelled for the legitimate underlying reason that they promote hatred, anti-semitism, and the demise of the US.
ALL islamists in the US should be cancelled permanently.
They don’t belong in the civilized world.
My next hotel booking will be a Marriot, well done sir.
Poor America… she let in these two violent peoples from the Middle East and they (along with other incompatibles) continue to fight it out on our soil. Yet– they have their own countries. We need to help these nationalistic, tribal trouble makers get back to the continents and countries they love and respect. America was not founded for them.
This action should have been undertaken by the State of Florida, along with scouring out the Islamists at all Florida Universities. These people should be on a flight to a Muslim country, not running loose in the US.
Nice job, keep up the good work Mr. Kaufman
I just don’t agree with cancelling this! The PROPER thing to do would be to RECORD it and show the WORLD what warped minds are roaming around in Our Nation! Show the American people what these “people” actually BELIEVE and WILL DO once their numbers are sufficient! Show how these “people” support the atrocities of hamass! Show how these “people” ACTUALLY treat women (as PROPERTY to do with as they please)! SHOW THE TRUTH about these “people”!!
Ok Moderators, did I say anything “offensive” or use “forbidden” words?